Weekly Update 10.8.15 (Bye Shot Package)

Tess is coming back after an extended visit with her crazy uncle. She’ll return to the City with a whole new way to serve the Guardians and enable us to keep serving the players who drive them. If you missed the announcement, allow us to introduce you to Eververse Trading Company. We’ve started a conversation about how we’ll keep Destiny fresh in the months to come. It all starts next week with Destiny Update 2.0.1.

This time last year, the Live Team at Bungie was a rag-tag band of about four developers who were scrambling to teach the Cryptarch and the Mythoclast some manners. Over the course of a year scored by game updates that delivered new features and playable moments, the Live Team has grown. Their charter to keep the world of the game alive with new experiences that everyone can share is unchanged and they’ve added some muscle to help them carry that mission forward. Eververse Trading will be their benefactor.

How their efforts will manifest in the Tower and beyond will all be part of the surprise that keeps on surprising.

Y’all like surprises, don’t you?

Not All At Once

Last year, the most frequently asked question in Destiny was “How do I get a Gjallarhorn?” Our Twitter account still bears the scars. There was no good answer to that question. My own personal Gjallarhorn eluded me until Xûr finally answered all of our prayers.

These days, there are more reliable paths to enable a Guardian like you to acquire Exotic weapons and armor. Not all of those paths will be immediately apparent. Since we began fighting Oryx and his dark minions, new achievements and rewards have come to light. The Taken War. Black Spindle. The King’s Fall Raid. Iron Banner is up next. More surprises lurk in the weeks to come…

Yesterday, those Guardians who had successfully foraged for crucial weapon fragments began the chase for the widely-anticipated Sleeper Simulant. The revelation of this new Quest was described as “awesome” by some. Others of you, who skipped meals and lost sleep on the hunt for the elusive Heavy Fusion Rifle, were not as pleased.

When I approached Design Lead Tyson Green with the conundrum, he asked me to tell you this:

Tyson: The response to Sleeper Simulant was humbling because we did not predict the community reaction. When we try new things, players often teach us a lesson about how to do it better, and this one has us thinking hard about how Quests communicate their availability. Our challenge is balancing between the secrecy that makes these hunts exciting, and transparency that could spoil the fun for the hunters. As long as the community is giving us feedback, we’ll keep seeking the ideal balance.

If you’ve set yourself on the path that leads to the Sleeper, we wish you good hunting. If you missed your chance, The First Firewall will come back soon. And that’s so much more than I could have told you about the coveted Gjallarhorn.

Attention: Buckshot Bruisers

Raise your hand if you think Shotguns are fair in the Crucible. If your hand is in the air, you might want to have a seat. If it’s not, and you’re nursing an ego that has been bruised by buckshot, stick around for some good news.

When I’m not whipping up sweet tweets, I can often be found showing new friends around our studio. On that tour, there’s a moment when we arrive outside our most dreaded test lab. It’s a virtual coliseum encased by glass walls – all the better to allow us to spectate the ongoing war that rages within.

“This is where we fight over the elusive quality of balance,” I always say, alluding to the fact that the Destiny Sandbox is never finished.

Senior Designer Jon Weisnewski is a frequent combatant in that space. Within our arena, he confronts the most skilled warriors on our team to discover the next refinement we’ll deliver to your arena.

As a follow up to his preview of the sandbox changes that arrived with Update 2.0, Jon is forecasting our speedy reaction to the battles that have waged in the Crucible over the first month of Year Two. Along with new inventory for Eververse Trading, Update 2.0.1 will arrive with some immediate sandbox changes. Here’s some ammunition for your next forum debate about weapon balance.

Jon: Hello everyone!

Since the release of Update 2.0, we’ve been analyzing data and listening closely to feedback. A new weapon meta is still settling. While there are some predictions for what people may gravitate towards, we remain in observational orbit.

One piece of community feedback that has been unanimous is that the changes to Shotgun perks were not enough to curb their lethality at extreme ranges in the Crucible. The prevalence of Shot Package on almost every long-range Shotgun has effectively redefined the close-quarters combat experience. Going forward, we’ll continue to dial in Shotgun range.

[Editor’s Note: Shotgun enthusiasts, take a deeeeep breath…]

With the deployment of Update 2.0.1, we will wholesale remove the Shot Package perk from all Shotguns. Any shotgun with Shot Package (depending on the exact weapon) will now have Close and/or Personal, Crowd Control, or Knee Pads. This change has not negatively impacted our PVE playtests.

Even though Shot Package is going away right now, expect to continue seeing Shotguns used to great effect by Crucible warriors. Each Class allows for movement optimizations that let players quickly close gaps. Most PVP maps have great flank routes and tight spaces. Game modes like Control, Salvage, and Rift ask players to converge upon and fight over small spaces to win. With or without Shot Package, even our shortest range Shotguns will continue to be effective death dealers in the hands of a skilled Guardian. With Shot Package on a time-out, we can recalibrate the effective range and research a way to hopefully reintroduce the perk after some time at the work bench.

Booya! Thanks, Jon. If you want some more of these PVP logic bombs, give a listen to “Newsk” on Crucible Radio. They had a nice chat about his process, after they mispronounced his inscrutable last name.